Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation



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COVID-19 SASS Children’s Mental Health Initiative

Funding Opportunity Guidelines

Release Date: June 8, 2020 Proposals Due: July 10, 2020

ABOUT ILLINOIS CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION

The Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) is a statewide private foundation that is focused on serving all children in the State of Illinois. ILCHF concentrates its funding primarily in the areas of children’s oral health and mental health. The vision of the foundation is that every child in Illinois grows up healthy.

ILCHF was created in December 2002 through an action of then Attorney General Jim Ryan and an Illinois insurance carrier. This action and a settlement of approximately $125 million established the only private foundation focused solely on the health needs of children in Illinois.

ILCHF’s work is focused primarily on children’s mental health and children’s oral health across the State of Illinois. From the Foundation's inception through 2020, a total of more than $98 million in grants have been awarded in approximately 550 grants.

For additional information about ILCHF, please see .

CONTEXT

The Illinois’ publicly funded children’s mental health safety net is constructed to provide an array of mental health services from prevention to crisis intervention. There are approximately 200 community mental health centers (CMHC’s) that provide mental health services across the State. Of this group of 200 CMHC’s, 38 are designated as specialty Screening, Assessment and Support Services (SASS) providers. SASS providers are tasked with the responsibility to assess and respond to any children’s mental health crisis need identified within their geographic area. SASS providers must maintain 24/7/365 mental health professional coverage to respond to these needs.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had profound negative economic impact on the CMHC’s and particularly on the SASS providers. SASS is funded by using a fee-for-service model that is a partnership between the Illinois Departments of Healthcare & Family Services (HFS); Human Services Division of Mental Health (DMH) and Children & Family Services (DCFS). Illinois’ shelter-in-place order has meant that children are no longer seen by teachers and other adults who recognize mental health crises. In addition, parents have been reluctant to bring children for preventive medical care, thus eliminating another referral point for addressing mental health concerns. There has been a significant reduction in the number of referrals to SASS providers, and thus a significant reduction in their fee-for-service billing. This is placing SASS providers at risk of having to lay-off their already sparse, specialized staff. Professionals believe the reduction in referrals is due to reduction in the typical referral points, rather than an actual decrease in need for the services. Moreover, broader children’s system stakeholders anticipate a large increase in the need for mental health supports as the shelter-in-place orders subside.

The SASS agency network represents a special and especially important type of provider of children’s mental health services in Illinois. SASS providers are uniquely positioned to provide the full array of mental health supports to children and families, ranging from prevention education to community mental health services to crisis response. Sustaining these providers is critical for maintaining a mental health safety net.

funding Opportunity and eligibility

Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) is committed to supporting the vital services delivered by Illinois’ SASS providers. The SASS provider organizations (38 organizations) under contract with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services are eligible and invited to apply for general operating grants that are intended to provide support for their children’s mental health crisis response programs (SASS). Grants in the amount of $30,000, $60,000 or $90,000 will be awarded depending on the organization’s size and the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the applicant organization. ILCHF will award a total of $1,500,000 in SASS operating support grants.

Funded projects will be able to demonstrate successful strategies for addressing the challenges resulting from the Pandemic designed to strengthen SASS services to respond to children’s’ mental health needs in Illinois.

ILCHF grant funds may be used for general operating for SASS services for children. Within the category of general operating, funds may be requested for, but not limited to, salaries and benefits, data collection & analysis, meetings, equipment & supplies, education and training, marketing and communication materials.

This opportunity does not fund:

• Intermediary funding agencies

• Grants to/for specific individuals

• Endowments

• Capital campaigns for medical facilities

• General medical research

• Attempts to influence legislation, as prohibited by section 4945 of the Internal Revenue Code for private foundations

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

ILCHF is seeking to maximize the impact of the COVID-19 SASS Children’s Mental Health Initiative by offering varying grant sizes ($30,000; $60,000; $90,000) to awarded SASS providers. There is a wide variance in the data available to date of the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on providers. This variance in impact exists across geographic, volume, and organization provider sizes. ILCHF will use the following criteria for selecting proposals for funding:

1. Size of the SASS program

2. Financial impact on the SASS program of Covid-19

3. Geographic Diversity

Organizations will be notified no later than early September regarding the outcome of the RFP.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Proposal Submission Guidelines.

Proposals will be accepted through the ILCHF Electronic submission process only. The electronic application will be available at under open RFPs by June 8, 2020.

Complete responses to this Request for Proposals must be submitted no later than Noon on July 10, 2020, 2020. Faxed or e-mailed submissions will not be accepted.

A proposal will not be reviewed unless it is complete. In addition to basic information about the agency and contacts, the following questions are included to address this specific RFP:

1. Agency description (250 Words)

2. Please provide the total dollar amount of your most recent annual SASS budget.

3. Total child population served in outpatient (clinic and community based) care by the agency & demographics from July 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020

4. Year that the organization first began providing SASS services (if mergers have occurred please give the date from the oldest SASS partnering organization).

5. Total number of FTE’s dedicated to SASS in the organization (Include all staff and supervisor’s time)

6. Number of Family Resource Developer FTE’s

7. Number of CARES SASS calls responded to from 3/1/2018 through 5/31/2018

8. Number of CARES SASS calls responded to from 3/1/2019 through 5/31/2019

9. Number of CARES SASS calls responded to from 3/1/2020 through 5/31/2020

10. Number of unduplicated youth served through SASS from 3/1/2019 through 5/31/2019

11. Number of unduplicated youth served through SASS from 3/1/2020 through 5/31/2020

12. Total dollar amount of SASS services billed from 3/1/2019 through 5/31/2019. (Please include Medicaid fee for service and Medicaid managed care).

13. Total dollar amount of SASS services billed from 3/1/2020 through 5/31/2020. (Please include Medicaid fee for service and Medicaid managed care).

14. Total amount of additional expenses related to transitioning to virtual service provision for SASS and for Personal Protective Equipment for SASS staff. Please list by category.

15. Please describe the impact the transition to virtual SASS services has had on the agency. (250 words)

16. Complete the budget template noting how you would allocate grants of $30,000; $60,000; and $90,000 utilizing the following general categories: staff salaries & benefits, equipment, travel & transportation, overhead expenses, other (describe).

ATTACHMENTS.

Only the information that is identified below may be provided as attachments. Budget Template

a. Budget Template

b. Organization Board of Directors List

c. IRS Letter of Exemption

d. Most recent Form 990 and AG-IL 990

e. Most recent audited financial statements

f. Officers Certification

Technical Assistance/Questions

Questions should be directed to:

Amy Starin, PhD, LCSW, Senior Program Officer

amystarin@

Other staff at the Foundation who may be contacted:

Nedranae Hunt, Foundation Administrative Manager

nedranaehunt@

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